my poor little dog has been diabetic for 7 years in the last 6mnths he has had a run of things wrong with him but in the ed they all turned out well and proved not to be serious. however on new years eve he went down with a case of diarrhoea quite out of the blue we called a vet and followed his advice no food for 24 and no insulinfor 72 he improved got worse eased like a yo yo in the end i became concerened that he was not eating enough to re start the insulin so we took him to an emergency vet who prescribed him probiotics re hydration fluid ans salazopyrin and said it should stop the diarhoea quickly well 24 hrs on it has not allthough he put him back on 1/2 doses of insulin as he is eating very small amount the diarrhoea has not really changed. another appointment with a vet this afternoon i am becomming very worried indeed now. has anyone noticed the poor opening hours of vets this xmas. i know they deserve time of but to be closed 7 out of 14 days   is a bit much. my poor boy has been to one vet after another since his own vet has been on maternity leave for an amazing 6 mnths and now to even more stange vets in unfamiliar surroundings because of this extended xmas holiday and fleeced in to the bargain sorry for the out burst, please wish him luck pru

This is one of the big problems with a diabetic dog. We are reluctant to change food because it throws the insulin balance out and yet we know that if it was a "Normal" dog we would have put it on something like a rice diet until the tummy cleared up!

Please understand that I am not a vet and as such am not qualified to recommend or even talk about such matters (Not that it's ever stopped me in the past! ;) ). What I found when I had a diabetic Labrador was that the big concern was loosing the dosage of insulin. Once that happened the dog would yo yo between over and under dosage. What I used to do was to try to anticipate the required dosage if I thought it was going to be different to usual. If I needed to do something about jippy tummy I used to change to a little chicken and rice and at the same time cut about a quarter off of her insulin dose. It would not be right but it would be reasonably near. I know its all guesswork but you do start to get a feel for it.

One thing I must say, to have kept a diabetic dog going for 7 years deserves a big pat on the back! You have done wonderfully well! Problems do start to build up as the dog gets older. Circulation what finally the end for my Katy but she did live out her full time.

Best wishes, John

thanks john for the encouragement. you are right, i can usually anticipate insulin needs, what paniced me this time was the diarrhoea that was so frequent and relentless, although not a hugh amount in volume. even though barney is nearly 14 he has only had diarrhoea 2 other times in his life and both times explainable and short lived.he is now on antibiotics and probiotics and today[day 6] there ara small signs of improvement,now very hungry and eating well still a very light diet, his mood has improved too. trips to the garden are still frequent but less ,  if any is being passed so fingers crossed that by the weekend he will be well enough for walkies.by the way as barney is a very picky eater i have to change his food frequently , he also has a sensetive tummy so finding something he will eat and that does not upset him has always been a challenge. i was told that as long as he eats good food of some description and simmilar amounts each day he would be ok.[he is the only dog i know who cannot digest rice]                                                 thanks again pru